Security Services Recruitment: Gov’t’s expansion directive “just to manage the disappointment”

National Communications Team member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Awl Mohammed, has criticized President Mahama’s directive to expand security services recruitment from 20,000 to 40,000, describing it as a move aimed at “managing the disappointment” among applicants and NDC party footsoldiers.

According to him, the erstwhile NPP administration recruited about 50,00 personnel within its 8-year term because of the limited capacity of the training facilities, adding that the NDC’s plan to recruit 40,000 personnel in four years “cannot happen.”

“When I heard the president said they should go ahead to pick 40,000 and do it within 4 years, I laughed. I said this is just a political statement to manage the disappointment, the 40,000 is just to manage the disappointment,” he said on Joy News AM Show on Tuesday.

He argued that the existing training infrastructure can only manage about 7,000 personnel every year, warning that it is not practical especially if the public interprets this directive as an immediate mass intake.

“It took 8 years for President Akufo-Addo to recruit 50,000 people and you said 40,000 within 4 years, which facilities are you even going to train them in? So, it is a lie, the NDC cannot even train 20,000 across the security agencies because we don’t have the facilities,” he added. Put together all the facilities that are able to train and they can’t even train up to 7,000. The police depots can only do 3,000 in a year.”

His remarks follow a directive issued by President Mahama on Monday, ordering a 50% increase in the recruitment targets for the various security services, from 20,000 to 40,000 in a 4-year period.

This comes in response to the current scramble for spots across the various services after more than 500,000 persons applied for just 5,000 open slots.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Muntaka Mubarak previously disclosed that the combined staff strength of the various security agencies falls below 100,00, adding that the wage bill for the security services alone sits at GHC13 billion.

“If the resources were there, I would have been the happiest person if we were able to recruit about half a million more security personnel. But let’s be practical. Can our economy absorb that? It is not possible,” Muntaka Mubarak said.